Introductory Considerations
1. It was one of the most exciting days that the people in Nazareth had ever known. It was Saturday, the sabbath and the people were getting ready to go to synagogue. This was going to be a special worship service. The people filled the streets and the alleys waiting to get a front row seat.
2. When a person entered the synagogue, he would say a private prayer and then confess His faith with words of the Shema "Hear 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." then there were public prayers and then came the centre of the worship - the reading of the Scriptures.
3. Synagogue did not have a clergy or pastor custom was that each Sunday someone would be selected to be the teacher or preacher for the scriptures. Often they would chose a visiting Rabbi. This Sabbath would be special because the visiting Rabbi would be someone who had grown up in their own town.
Teaching
1. Nazareth was town were Jesus was raised but Jesus did not begin His ministry there Luke makes it look like He might have.
2. Luke 4:1-13 talks about temptation and vs. 14 says that He returned to Galilee. Yet If we look at Gospel of John and see what Jesus did, we see that Luke skipped over the first full year of Jesus’ ministry with the Jews in Judea and the Samaritans in Syria.
3. But now He ministered in Galilee - and the people of Nazareth heard the reports of how He had preached and performed many miracles
4. And now Jesus came home to minister to His own town. Like the people of Nazareth, we may have heard how Christ has ministered to others. We may have read God’s word and read about all He taught and did. Heard often in church - as interesting stories.
5. But today imagine that you are in that synagogue in Nazareth. Imagine that Jesus stands before you and tells you who He is? No stories, no rumours - but a personal face to face confrontation.
6. We hear Him tell us who He is, what He wants to do for you and then we need to decide how we react.
7. Jesus reads from the book of Isa - the passage that says that promise one that God will send an anointed one. That one day the Messiah will come. It was a favourite for it promised of a day when they would be freed from the
Romans and other oppressors.
8. But it promise more than that - perhaps they did not understand what that was we too may think of God as one who will help us through life’s difficulties but do we understand what He really wants to do for us.
9. The Messiah comes to us to preach good news to the poor - those who are destitute and who know they are. God comes to those who are poor in spirit, humble. Iif we think we can do all things and have it all together, we don’t need God.
10. He comes to those of us who are prisoners to sin, to shame and guilt, who struggle with life and seem not to rise above. He comes to those who are spiritually blinded by Satan. Long time I did not think I needed God - I was
blinded.
11. Jesus says He came to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. This mean that God had taken the step to begin to create a new kingdom through the Messiah, the Christ to give people victory.
12. People were amazed at the authority by which he spoke. They spoke well of him - "not a bad preacher - we could ask Him to come back again".
13. They were moved by his eloquence and the way he presented the word
14. But as they thought about what He said, they changed their mood. He had said that "Today this Scripture is fulfilled" In other words He was saying that He was the Messiah, God Himself and that they could not accept.
15. After all they knew Him as a young boy. He was just Joseph’s son. How could He know say He was God?
a. Perhaps the rumours had been exaggerated.
b. Perhaps He suffering from delusion.
16. Jesus knew what they were thinking. "If you are who you say you are, prove it by performing some miracles here in your hometown"
17. How might we relate to these people? We have heard much about Him. We are familiar with Jesus - grew up in Sunday School leaning about Him.
18. But that is not enough for us to receive that which Christ was anointed to bring more is required.
19. We must place our trust and hope in Him. It means that we must believe deep in our hearts that He is God simply because He tells us. Not because we want Him to prove it first.
20. In Mark 6:6 we read that could do very few miracles there - why - because of their lack of faith.
21. Has Christ done miracles in your life? Has he freed you from sin, changed you heart? If not could it be that you have not really put your faith In Him?
22. Here was Jesus - offering freely the gift of life. The people thought they knew Him but they really did not as a result they rejected the very thing they needed the most.
23. But there was another problem that caused them to reject Jesus. Jesus knows what that is.
24. And so he tells story of Elijah and widow in Zarepath and story of the healing of Namaan (EXPLAIN STORIES)
25. Both these stories are stories of God’s grace and how His grace worked in the lives of those who responded in faith.
26. Widow gave oil and Namaan who dipped self in Jordan 7 times. There were plenty with these needs In Israel but somehow these people who knew God so well, who had been His chosen people, failed to put their trust in Him
27. Jesus says to them, He says to us "You are familiar with me. You think you are part of my chosen people but you will not receive the grace that I offer because of who you are only if you believe me without demanding proof
28. That was more than the people could take. He was critical of them. He was saying that by rejecting Him they would be like the lepers and widows in Israel that were not healed. That God would save the Gentiles and not them
and so they drove Him out of town and wanted to kill Him.
29. I ask you to re-examine yourself and I ask who Is He to you. Jesus wants to not just bring us salvation but to bring us the joy of salvation talking about fruit of spirit in evening.
30. Jesus asks us to yield our claims as to who we are to the claim of who He is.
31. Friends - let us again listen to the one who we are fanffliar with. Let us take deep look as to whom He is and whether or not we really believe it.
32. See many of us set in our ways. That’s the way I am. Or we see others as certain ways and reject them. Jesus is one who comes to free us today. We need to believe He can and will. Then we are a church that is alive and
experiencuing His changing power.
33. How do you receive Him?
